Virtual mental health platform

ABSTRACT

According to various embodiments, systems and methods herein describe a virtual mental health/therapy platform. In particular embodiments, the systems and methods disclosed herein describe a system that includes matching a particular patient to one or more therapists, providing an initial assessment of the particular patient to the one or more therapists, and providing a continuous care application to the particular patient (e.g., to track process, receive care plan related reminders, and various other functionality).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Nos:

62/058,860, filed Oct. 2, 2014, entitled, “SKYTHERAPIST INSTRUMENTWORKFLOW INTEGRATION,” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety;

61/989,579, filed May 7, 2014, entitled, “PSYCHOTHERAPIST COMPATIBILITYINSTRUMENT,” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety;

61/989,610, filed May 7, 2014, entitled, “PSYCHOTHERAPIST COLOR CODEDINTAKE ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT,” incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety; and

61/989,631, filed May 7, 2014, entitled, “PSYCHOTHERAPIST/PATIENT ALERTAPPLICATION,” incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Telehealth encompasses technology solutions for solving healthcareissues and, more particularly, technology solutions for providinghealthcare from a distance and/or between patient in-person visits to aprovider (e.g., where patient and provider are not in the samelocation). Email communication with physicians, teleconferences withspecialists, remote consultations (via audio and/or video chat) and homemonitoring of patients all fall under the telehealth umbrella.Telehealth can reduce hospitalizations and visits to an emergency room,increase quality of life, and provide healthcare services to remotelocations.

Telehealth presents a number of potential challenges for patients andproviders, alike. Patients may be leery of consulting with a providerover video conferencing or over the telephone that they have never met.Similarly, providers may not be comfortable diagnosing or treating aremote patient they have not met. Moreover, for specialized types oftreatment, it may be more difficult for a patient to locate a suitableprovider and for a provider to provide treatment without more than basicbibliographic information about a patient they have not met in person.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to particular embodiments, systems and methods herein includean electronic therapy platform for providing improved patient andtherapist matching, the electronic therapy platform including: a) one ormore servers each including a database and at least one processor andoperatively connected to: i) a particular patient's computing device;and ii) at least one therapist's computing device; b) a matching enginefor calculating a match score of the particular patient and the at leastone therapist by: i) receiving patient data items associated withpatient answers to a series of patient questions presented to theparticular patient at the particular patient's computing device; ii)receiving therapist data items associated with therapist answers to aseries of therapist questions; iii) assigning a weight to each of thepatient answers and the therapist answers; iv) determining the matchscore based on the weight of each of the patient answers and thetherapist answers; c) an assessment engine for providing an initialassessment of the particular patient by: i) receiving assessment dataitems associated with patient answers to a series of assessmentquestions presented to the particular patient at the particularpatient's computing device; ii) assigning a level of severity to each ofthe assessment data items; and iii) transmitting the initial assessmentinformation to the at least one therapist's computing device; and d) acontinuous care engine configured for: i) receiving schedule data itemsassociated with the particular patient's therapy schedule; ii)associating the schedule data items with particular dates and times;iii) calculating reminder times for each of the schedule data items; andiv) transmitting at least one reminder to the particular patient basedon the calculated reminder time.

In various embodiments system and methods herein include acomputer-implemented method, the method including the steps of: a)transmitting an electronic therapist form to a plurality of browsers,each of the plurality of browsers associated with a particulartherapist, the electronic therapist form including a plurality oftherapist queries; b) receiving a modified electronic therapist formfrom each the plurality of browsers, each of the modified electronictherapist forms including answers to each of the plurality of therapistqueries; c) assigning a weight to each answer to each of the pluralityof therapist queries; d) determining, based at least in part on theassigned weight to each answer, a particular category of a number ofcategories to categorize each therapist; e) storing each of the modifiedelectronic therapists forms and data regarding the category in whicheach therapist is categorized in memory; f) transmitting an electronicpatient form to a browser associated with a particular patient, theelectronic form including a plurality of patient queries; g) receiving amodified electronic form from the browser associated with the particularpatient, the modified electronic patient form including an answer toeach of the plurality of patient queries; h) assigning a weight to eachanswer to each of the plurality of patient queries; i) determining,based at least in part on the assigned weight to each answer, which ofthe number of categories of patients to categorize the particularpatient; j) storing each of the modified electronic patient forms andinformation regarding which category of patient in which the particularpatient is categorized in memory; k) extracting the answer to the firstpatient query of the plurality of patient queries; l) searching theelectronic therapist forms for an answer corresponding to the answer tothe first patient query and creating a preliminary set of electronictherapist forms, wherein each of the electronic therapist forms in thepreliminary set include the corresponding answer; m) matching theparticular patient to particular therapists corresponding to three ofthe preliminary set of electronic therapist forms based at least in parton the category of therapist that each of the particular therapists iscategorized and the category that the particular patient is categorized;and n) displaying a profile corresponding to each of the threeparticular therapists on the browser associated with the particularpatient.

In some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for providing remotetherapy to a patient, the computer-implemented method including: a)receiving patient data items including information regarding a patient'stherapy style; b) receiving therapist data items including informationregarding a plurality of therapists' therapy styles; c) based uponreceiving the patient data items and the therapist data items,calculating a match score for each of the plurality of therapists andthe patient; d) providing the match score for each of three therapistsof the plurality of therapists to the patient, wherein the threetherapists include therapists with a top three-highest match scores; e)receiving an indication of a selection of one of the three therapistsfrom the patient; f) receiving a treatment plan for the patient from acomputing device associated with the selected therapist, wherein thetreatment plan includes one or more events and dates and times that theone or more events take place; g) calculating a reminder time fortransmitting a reminder to the patient regarding the one or more events;and h) transmitting a reminder to the patient regarding the one or moreevents at the reminder time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary system environment constructed according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary computer/server architecture according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A & 3B are flow charts illustrating an exemplary matching processaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary assessment processaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary continuous care processaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6-8 are exemplary screenshots of a user interface including apatient matching questionnaire according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displayingexemplary match results according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displaying aprofile of an exemplary therapist according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 11-16 are exemplary screenshots of a user interface including anexemplary patient intake assessment according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displaying anexemplary patient profile according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displayingand managing preferred medical providers according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary appointment calendaraccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary geolocation servicesaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of thepresent disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodimentsillustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used todescribe the same. It will, nevertheless, be understood that nolimitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended; anyalterations and further modifications of the described or illustratedembodiments, and any further applications of the principles of thedisclosure as illustrated therein are contemplated as would normallyoccur to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure relates. Alllimitations of scope should be determined in accordance with and asexpressed in the claims.

Overview

According to various embodiments, systems and methods herein describe avirtual mental health/therapy platform. In particular embodiments, thesystems and methods disclosed herein describe a system that includesmatching a particular patient to one or more therapists, providing aninitial assessment of the particular patient to the one or moretherapists, and providing a continuous care application to theparticular patient (e.g., to track progress and receive care planrelated reminders).

In particular embodiments, the system matches the particular patient tothe one or more therapists based on: 1) the particular patient'sresponses to patient questions designed for determining variousattributes of the particular patient; and 2) the one or more therapists'responses to therapist questions designed for determining variousattributes of the one or more therapists. In various embodiments, thepatient questions and/or the therapist questions are delivered to thepatient and therapist via the virtual therapy platform in the form of anelectronic form, although it will be understood from the discussionsherein that the patient and/or therapist questions may be delivered inany suitable way.

The system, in particular embodiments, assigns a weight to each of thepatient and therapist answers, where the weight may be any suitableweight, such as a number, percentage, etc. According to at least oneembodiment, the system assigns at least one category to the particularpatient and to each of the one or more therapists based on the assignedweights. In one or more embodiments, the system calculates a match scorebased on the assigned categories for the particular patient and each ofthe one or more therapists and displays a profile of each of the topthree therapists that have the highest match score for the particularpatient.

In at least one embodiment, the system is configured to provide aninitial assessment of a particular patient to a medical provider(therapist). In particular embodiments, the initial assessment mayhighlight potential issues for the particular patient, thus, potentiallymaking it easy for the medical provider to quickly determine potentialissues with the particular patient.

According to particular embodiments, the system is configured to providea series of questions for creating the initial assessment of theparticular patient. In some embodiments, the system is configured toassign a category to each answer to each of the series of questions. Inat least one embodiment, based on the category of each answer to theseries of questions, the system creates an initial assessment for theparticular patient and transmits the initial assessment to the medicalprovider.

According to one or more embodiments, the system is configured toprovide various functionality and features related to continuous patientcare. In one embodiment, the system is configured to receive all or partof a patient's care plan, which may include therapy appointments and/orother wellness activities such as going to the gym, going to church,etc. In these embodiments (and others), the system is configured toprovide reminders to the patient regarding these activities andappointments.

In some embodiments, the system is configured to batch and provide atherapist updates and/or alerts based on a patient's geolocation and/orsocial network activity (e.g., the system, in one or more embodiments,is configured to determine whether the patient is attendingappointments, going to work, etc. based on the patient's geolocationand/or other activities) at various intervals. The system may beconfigured to transmit updates and/or alerts to the therapist upondetermination of a potential issue with the patient daily, weekly,monthly, etc.

Exemplary Technical Platforms

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant field, the presentsystems and methods may be, for example, embodied as a computer system,a method, or a computer program product. Accordingly, variousembodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software andhardware aspects. Furthermore, particular embodiments may take the formof a computer program product stored on a computer-readable storagemedium having computer-readable instructions (e.g., software) embodiedin the storage medium. Various embodiments may take the form ofweb-implemented computer software. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized including, for example, hard disks,compact disks, DVDs, optical storage devices, thumb drives, solid statedrives, and/or magnetic storage devices.

Various embodiments are described below with reference to block diagramsand flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatuses (e.g., systems), andcomputer program products. It should be understood that each block ofthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations ofblocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively,can be implemented by a computer executing computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial purpose computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on thecomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memoryproduce an article of manufacture that is configured for implementingthe function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computerprogram instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide stepsfor implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block orblocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of mechanisms for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instructions for performing the specified functions. Itshould also be understood that each block of the block diagrams andflowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based computer systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware andother hardware executing appropriate computer instructions.

Exemplary System Architecture

As discussed above, various systems and methods herein describe aplatform for matching medical providers, including therapists, topatients as well as for providing a platform for medical providers andpatients to interact and communicate. As will be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art, these systems and methods may be implementedin any suitable way. The following is a description of exemplaryarchitecture and is but one example of how the herein described systemsand methods may be implemented.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 according to a particularembodiment. As may be understood from this figure, the system 100includes one or more computer networks 115, a virtual therapy platform200, a database 140, a patient mobile computing device 150 (e.g., suchas a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computing device, alaptop computer, etc.), a patient desktop computing device 160, amedical provider mobile computing device 170 (e.g., such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computing device (e.g., healthmonitors, connected watches, connected glasses, fitness wearables, alaptop computer, etc.), and a medical provider desktop computing device180. In particular embodiments, the one or more computer networks 115facilitate communication between the virtual therapy platform 200,database 140, and one or more computing devices 150, 160, 170, and 180.

The one or more computer networks 115 may include any of a variety oftypes of wired or wireless computer networks such as the Internet, aprivate intranet, a mesh network, a public switch telephone network(PSTN), or any other type of network (e.g., a network that usesBluetooth or near field communications to facilitate communicationbetween computers). The communication link between the virtual therapyplatform 200 and the database 140 may be, for example, implemented via aLocal Area Network (LAN) or via the Internet.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the virtual therapy engine200 includes a matching engine 300, an assessment engine 400, and acontinuous care engine 500. The matching engine 300, in one or moreembodiments, receives data from patients and medical providers and rankspotential medical provider matches to each patient. This process isfurther discussed below, particularly in relation to FIGS. 3A and 3B.The assessment engine 400, in at least one embodiment, receives datafrom patients and provides an initial assessment of the patient to amedical provider. As will be further discussed herein, the functionalityof the assessment engine 400 may be utilized before or after thematching engine 300 matches the patient and the medical provider. Thecontinuous care engine 500, in particular embodiments, providesreminders and calendar notifications based a therapy plan, which may beuploaded to the system by a patient and/or a therapist, tracks patientactivities, batches these activities and transmits these activities tothe therapist, and provides alerts to patient contacts (including thetherapist) in certain situations. The continuous care engine 500 will befurther discussed below in relation to FIG. 6.

In particular embodiments, the patient mobile device 150 and the medicalprovider mobile computing device 170 are configured to download a mobileapplication 156 or 176, respectively (collectively “mobile application156/176”). As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art,the mobile application 156/176 may represent any suitable instance orportion of the systems and methods described herein that is storedlocally on any of the one or more computing devices 150 and/or 170.

As a particular example, a user, such as a patient or medical provider,downloads an application (or “App”) from an application store (e.g.,mobile application 156/176), which is stored on the user's mobile device(e.g., the patient mobile computing device 150 or medical providermobile computing device 170). Continuing with this particular example,the mobile application 156/176 includes various components of thesystems and methods described herein, such as a log in and interface forinteracting with the virtual therapy platform 200. The mobileapplication 156/176, in this particular example, communicates (e.g., viathe one or more networks 115) with the virtual therapy platform 200 toreceive/retrieve and/or transmit content or data (e.g., shareable media,statistics, user account/profile information, etc.) for use in themobile application 156/176 on the user's mobile device. In variousembodiments, the mobile application 156/176 interacts with one or moresocial networks via a suitable API. In further embodiments, the mobileapplication 156/176 accesses a mobile device's geolocation services foruse with locating and recording locations of a patient.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagrammatic representation, in variousembodiments, of the architecture of an exemplary computer that can beused within the system 100, for example, as a client computer (e.g., oneof the one or more computing devices 150, 160, 170, 180, as shown inFIG. 1) or as a server computer (e.g., part of one or more virtualtherapy platform servers 200, shown in FIG. 1). In particularembodiments, the architecture of the virtual therapy platform 200 may besuitable for use as a computer within the context of the system 100 thatis configured to enable patient and medical provider matching, providingan initial assessment of a patient, and providing continuous carefunctionality, among other various functions. For purposes of clarityand brevity, the exemplary computer shown in FIG. 2 will be referred toas the virtual therapy platform 200, although it should be understoodthat this exemplary computer may represent any suitable computing deviceassociated with the systems and methods described herein.

In particular embodiments, the virtual therapy platform 200 may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other computers in a LAN, an intranet, anextranet, and/or the Internet. As noted above, the virtual therapyplatform 200 may operate in the capacity of a server, a client computerin a client-server network environment, and/or as a peer computer in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The virtual therapyplatform 200 may be a desktop personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, aset-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellulartelephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a wearable computing device, a webappliance, a server, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any othercomputer capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that computer. Further,while only a single computer is illustrated, the term “computer” shallalso be taken to include any collection of computers that individuallyor jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

An exemplary virtual therapy platform 200 includes a processor 202, amain memory 204 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or RambusDRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 206 (e.g., flash memory, staticrandom access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 218, whichcommunicate with each other via a bus 232.

The processor 202 represents one or more processors such as amicroprocessor, a central processing unit, or the like. Moreparticularly, the processor 202 may be a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,processor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. The processor 202 mayalso be one or more special-purpose processors such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, or thelike. The processor 202 may be configured to execute processing logic226 for performing various operations and steps discussed herein.

The virtual therapy platform 200 may further include a network interfacedevice 208. The virtual therapy platform 200 also may include a videodisplay unit 210 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode raytube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 212 (e.g., a keyboard), acursor control device 214 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generationdevice 216 (e.g., a speaker).

While the machine-accessible storage medium 230 is shown in an exemplaryembodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-accessible storagemedium” should be understood to include a single medium or multiplemedia (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associatedcaches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. Theterm “computer-accessible storage medium” should also be understood toinclude any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying aset of instructions for execution by the computer and that cause thecomputer to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the presentsystems and methods. The term “computer-accessible storage medium”should accordingly be understood to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, etc.

The data storage device 218 may include a machine-accessible storagemedium 230 (also known as a non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium or a non-transitory computer-readable medium) on which is storedone or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 222) embodying any oneor more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The software222 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the mainmemory 204 and/or within the processor 202 during execution thereof bythe virtual therapy platform 200—the main memory 204 and the processor202 also constituting computer-accessible storage media. The software222 may further be transmitted or received over a network 115 via anetwork interface device 208.

The software 222 may represent any number of program modules, including,but not limited to an operating system (not shown), the matching engine300, the assessment engine 400, and/or the continuous care engine 500.For simplicity and brevity, these engines are merely exemplary and mayrepresent a number of program modules that control certain aspects ofthe operation of the virtual therapy platform 200. The matching engine300, the assessment engine 400, and the continuous care engine 500 aredescribed in more detail below.

Exemplary System Functionality

As will be understood from discussions herein, the virtual therapyplatform 200, in various embodiments, is a platform for matching aparticular patient to a particular medical provider (such as atherapist), providing an initial assessment of the particular patient tothe particular medical provider, and providing a platform for theparticular patient and particular medical provider to interact, holdvirtual (telehealth) treatment sessions, and track continuous care ofthe particular patient. Particular embodiments and functionality of thevirtual therapy platform 200 are discussed below.

Exemplary Patient/Therapist Matching

FIGS. 3A and 3B depict various exemplary process steps of the matchingengine 300. As discussed above, in various embodiments, when aparticular patient logs into the virtual therapy platform 200 for thefirst time, they may be asked a series of questions designed to assesstheir “therapy style,” which may include the particular patient'soutlook on life, personal approach to solving problems, and/or aframework for providing therapy. In particular embodiments, theparticular patient is then presented with a top three therapists thatmay be a good match for the particular patient, at least partially basedon the patient's therapy style. Although the present embodiments arediscussed in the context of a “therapist,” it will be understood thatthe present systems and methods may be used for any suitable medicalprovider, including, but not limited to, doctors, dentists, medicalspecialists, psychotherapists, counselors, psychologists, etc.

Turning now to FIG. 3A, the exemplary process 300 begins at step 310,where the system is configured to transmit (e.g., facilitate display of)an electronic therapist form to a therapist, the electronic therapistform including one or more therapist questions. In various embodiments,the electronic therapist form may be transmitted to the therapist fromthe virtual therapy platform and displayed in any suitable way, such asvia a browser (e.g., on the medical provider desktop computing device180) or via a mobile application (e.g., on the medical provider mobilecomputing device 170).

The electronic therapist form may be in any suitable electronicrepresentation of the one or more therapist questions. In embodimentsfurther discussed herein, the electronic therapist form is a singleelectronic form displayed on a web browser, where a user can selectanswers (e.g., multiple choice answers, true or false answers, etc.) tothe questions and then submit the entire form at once. In someembodiments, the electronic therapist form is a series of questions thatare transmitted and/or displayed to the user (e.g., an answer to a firstquestion prompts the transmission or display of the second questions andan answer to the second question prompts the transmission or display ofthe third question, and so on). In further embodiments, the one or moretherapist questions are transmitted to the therapist by email, textmessage, social network message, etc.

The one or more therapist questions may be any suitable questions formatching the therapist to a particular patient (the one or moretherapist questions may also be known as one or more therapist queries).In at least one embodiment, the one or more therapist questions aredirected to determining the therapist's therapy style (e.g., optimaltherapy style, outlook on life, personal approach to solving problems,etc.), which will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art toinclude, for example, emperiricism (cognitive-behavioral), rationalism(psychodynamic), humanism (humanistic), and collectivism (systemic). Inparticular embodiments, the one or more therapist questions may begeneral questions about the therapist, such as, for example, location ofthe therapist, sex of the therapist, race of the therapist, age of thetherapist, cost structure of the therapist's practice, etc.

At step 315, the system is configured to receive answers to the one ormore therapist questions. In various embodiments, the answers to the oneor more therapist questions are in the form of a multiple choiceselection (e.g., a selection of an answer corresponding to a, b, c, or1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or x, y, z, etc.). In some embodiments, the answers tothe one or therapist questions are in the form of short answer or abrief typed/written answer to each of the one or more therapistquestions. In at least one embodiment, the answers to the one or moretherapist questions are in the form of “true/false.” In furtherembodiments, the answers to the one or more therapist questions are inthe form of responses to text messages, email messages, or otherelectronic messaging technologies.

At step 320, the system is configured to assign a weight to each of thetherapist answers.

In various embodiments, the system is configured to assign the weightfor each answer, separately. In some embodiments, the system isconfigured to assign the weight to each of the answers in aggregate(e.g., all the answers get the same weight or an average weight). Aswill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the weightassigned to each answer may be any suitable weight (e.g., a wholenumber, a fraction, a percentage) and may be applied to each answer inany suitable way.

At step 325, the system is configured to determine at least one categoryfor the therapist based on the weight assigned to each of the answers.In particular embodiments, each category corresponds to a particularweight or combination of weights assigned to each answer. Each categorymay be any suitable category, such as, but not limited to therapy styles(emperiricism (cognitive-behavioral), rationalism (psychodynamic),humanism (humanistic), and collectivism (systemic)), personality types,likes, dislikes, etc.

At step 330, the system is configured to store answers to the one ormore therapist questions, the weights assigned to each of the answers,and the category determined for the therapist in memory. In particularembodiments, the system is configured to store the above information inthe database 140 (as shown in FIG. 1).

At step 335, the system is configured to transmit an electronic form toa patient, the electronic patient form including one or more patientquestions. In particular embodiments, the patient electronic form is inthe same form as the therapist electronic form as discussed above atstep 310. In some embodiments, the patient electronic form is in adifferent form than that therapist electronic form discussed at step 310(e.g., the therapist electronic form is a single electronic form and thepatient electronic form is a series of questions, etc.).

The one or more patient questions may be any suitable questions formatching the patient to one or more therapists (the one or more patientquestions may also be known as one or more patient queries). In at leastone embodiment, the one or more patient questions are directed todetermining the patient's optimal therapy style, which will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art to include, for example,emperiricism (cognitive-behavioral), rationalism (psychodynamic),humanism (humanistic), and collectivism (systemic). In particularembodiments, the one or more patient questions may be general questionsabout the therapist, such as, for example, location of the therapist,sex of the therapist, race of the therapist, age of the therapist, coststructure of the therapist's practice, etc. As will be understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art, the therapist questions and patientquestions may be the same or different questions (or a different numberof questions).

At step 340, the system is configured to receive an answer to each ofthe plurality of patient questions. The system, in some embodiments, isconfigured to receive the answers to each of the plurality of patientquestions in any of the ways the system is configured to receive thetherapist answers as discussed in relation to step 315.

Continuing with this exemplary process in FIG. 3B, at step 350, thesystem is configured to assign a weight to each patient answer. Invarious embodiments, the system is configured to assign the weight foreach answer, separately. In some embodiments, the system is configuredto assign the weight to each of the answers in aggregate (e.g., all theanswers get the same weight or an average weight). As will be understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art, the weight assigned to each answermay be any suitable weight (e.g., a whole number, a fraction, apercentage) and may be applied to each answer in any suitable way.

At step 355, the system is configured to determine a category for thepatient based on the weight assigned to each of the answers. Inparticular embodiments, each category corresponds to a particular weightor combination of weights assigned to each answer. Each category may beany suitable category, such as, but not limited to therapy styles(emperiricism (cognitive-behavioral), rationalism (psychodynamic),humanism (humanistic), and collectivism (systemic)), personality types,likes, dislikes, etc. As will be understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art, the categories for the patient may or may not be the samecategories for the therapist (e.g., therapist may be assigned categoriesby therapy styles and patients may be assigned categories based onpersonality types).

At step 360, the system is configured to store answers to the one ormore patient questions, the weights assigned to each of the answers, andthe category determined for the patient in memory. In particularembodiments, the system is configured to store the above information inthe database 140 (as shown in FIG. 1).

At step 365, the system is configured to extract the answer to the firstpatient question from memory. In various embodiments, answer to thefirst patient question may be a threshold question such as basicpreferences for a therapist, including, but not limited to, a therapistin a particular age range, a therapist of a particular sex, etc. As willbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the system, in atleast one embodiment, may include more than one threshold question.

At step 370, the system is configured to search (e.g., locate) thestored therapist answers for answers corresponding to the first patientanswer. In various embodiments, the system is configured to search thestored therapists answers for the answer corresponding to the firstpatient answer by examining a particular corresponding question in eachof the stored electronic therapist forms. In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to pre-sort each therapist based in part on thefirst patient answer (e.g., the system is configured to group therapistsby sex, age, and/or race in anticipation of threshold first patientanswers).

At step 375, the system is configured to create a preliminary set oftherapists that includes therapists with answers that correspond to thefirst patient answer. In various embodiments, the system is configuredto create the set of therapists that correspond to the first patientanswer each time a new patient answers the first question. In someembodiments, the system is configured to create the set of therapiststhat correspond to the first patient answer by adding each new therapistto a predefined set (e.g., a set of male therapists, a set of femaletherapists, etc.).

At step 380, the system is configured to determine a match score foreach of the therapists in the preliminary set of therapists based on thecategory of each of the therapists and the category of the patient.According to a particular embodiment, the system is configured todetermine the match score for each of the therapists in the preliminaryset of therapists based on the category of each therapist and thecategory of each patient by determining a percent match of the patientand each therapist within the preliminary set of therapists. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to determine the match score foreach of the therapists in the preliminary set of therapists based on thecategory of each therapist and the category of each patient by rankingeach therapist in the preliminary set and assigning each therapist ascore based on this ranking.

At step 385, the system is configured to display a profile correspondingto each of the therapists with the top three match scores. In particularembodiments, the system is configured to display a list of the top threetherapist matches for the patient based on the match score. As will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the system may beconfigured to display any particular number of matched therapists (e.g.,one, two, five, ten, twenty, etc.).

Exemplary Assessment Process

As discussed herein, the present systems and methods may provide aninitial assessment of a particular patient to a therapist (e.g., upon amatch of the particular patient to the therapist, as described above).According to particular embodiments, the initial assessment may indicateto the therapist one or more potential issues of the particular patient.The system may utilize any suitable method for providing the initialassessment of the particular patient to the therapist. Such an exemplaryprocess is shown in FIG. 4 and discussed below.

Beginning with step 410, the system is configured to receive assessmentdata items associated with patient answers to a series of assessmentquestions presented to the particular patient at the particularpatient's computing device. In various embodiments, the system isconfigured to transmit the series of assessment questions to theparticular patient's computing device via an electronic form (e.g., tothe particular patient's web browser or application associated with thepresent systems and methods). In some embodiments, the system isconfigured to transmit the series of assessment questions to theparticular patient's computing device via email, text message, socialnetwork message, or any other suitable messaging or electronictransmission technology.

The series of questions may be any suitable questions to provide aninitial assessment of the particular patient. In various embodiments,the series of questions may include questions regarding the mentalhealth and/or previous diagnosis of the particular patient. Inparticular embodiments, the series of questions may or may not includequestions regarding the medical history of the particular patient. Insome embodiments, the series of questions include questions designed toindirectly ascertain mental health issues of the particular patient.

In particular embodiments, in response to receiving the series ofassessment questions, the particular patient responds to/answers eachquestion in the series of assessment questions and transmits theseresponses/answers to the system. In various embodiments, the answers tothe series of questions are in the form of a multiple choice selection(e.g., a selection of an answer corresponding to a, b, c, or 1, 2, 3, 4,5, or x, y, z, etc.). In some embodiments, the answers to the series ofquestions are in the form of short answer or a brief typed/writtenanswer to each of the one or more therapist questions. In at least oneembodiment, the answers to the series of questions are in the form of“true/false.”

At step 420, the system is configured to assign a level of severity toeach of the assessment data items based on the patient answers. Invarious embodiments, the system is configured to assign severity levelsranging from “high” to “low.” In some embodiments, the system isconfigured to assign severity levels on a numerical scale (e.g., 1-10,1-50, 1-100, etc.). In one or more embodiments, the system is configuredto assign severity levels based on a graded color spectrum, wherein redis the most severe and green is the least severe. As a particularexample, if the particular patient provides an answer to a particularquestion of the series of assessment questions that indicates that theparticular patient is severely depressed, the system may assign the dataitem associated with the patient answer a severity level of “high.” Aswill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the system maybe configured to assign the level of severity to each of the assessmentdata items or may assign the level of severity based on a combination ofdata items (e.g., the particular patient has answered a number ofquestions that indicate that the particular patient is depressed and,thus, a severity level of “high” may be assigned to each of the dataitems associated with questions associated with depression). Othernon-limiting examples of potential patient issues include post-traumaticstress syndrome (PTSD), anxiety, etc.

At step 430, the system is configured to transmit the initial assessmentinformation to the at least one therapist's computing device. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to transmit the initial assessmentinformation to the at least one therapist's computing device via anemail, a text message, a message via the at least one therapist'sbrowser, a message on an application associated with the system asdiscussed herein, etc.

Exemplary Continuous Care Process

As discussed herein, the virtual therapy platform, in variousembodiments provides continuous care functionality, includingtransmitting reminders of therapy tasks to patients. An exemplaryprocess of transmitting reminders regarding therapy-related tasks isdiscussed below in related to FIG. 5.

At step 510, the system is configured to receive schedule data itemsassociated with the particular patient's therapy schedule. In variousembodiments, the system is configured to receive the schedule data itemsassociated with the particular patient's therapy schedule from acomputing device associated with the particular patient. In someembodiments, the system is configured to receive the schedule data itemsassociated with the particular patient's therapy schedule from atherapist.

The schedule data items may be any suitable schedule data items. Invarious embodiments, the schedule data items are items associated withtasks specific to the particular patient's therapy. Non-limitingexamples of suitable schedule data items include taking medication,exercising, diet reminders, engaging in meditation, attending church,listening to calming music, listening to positive affirmations, writingin a journal (journaling in general), etc.

At step 520, the system is configured to associate the schedule dataitems with particular dates and times. In various embodiments, thesystem is configured to receive a particular date and/or time with eachschedule data item (e.g., a schedule of tasks). In some embodiments, thesystem is configured to receive particular dates and/or times formultiple schedule data items. In further embodiments, the system isconfigured to receive a calendar of schedule data items (e.g., via acalendar import or the like).

At step 530, the system is configured to calculate reminder times foreach of the schedule data items. In various embodiments, the systemreceives particular times for reminders for each schedule data item(e.g., the particular times for the reminders may be a reminder 10minutes before the time of an event, a reminder at the time of theevent, etc.). In these embodiments (and others), the system isconfigured to calculate a time corresponding to the received particulartime to send the reminder (e.g., if the particular time for the reminderis 10 minutes and the event is at 3:30 PM, the system may calculate thatthe time to send a reminder is at 3:20 PM). As will be understood, insome embodiments, the particular patient or the particular patient'stherapist may set standard reminder times (e.g., 10 minutes prior to anevent, at the time of the event, etc.).

At step 540, the system is configured to transmit at least one reminderto the particular patient based on the calculated reminder time. Asdiscussed herein, the system may be configured to transmit the at leastone reminder to the particular patient in any suitable way, includingvia text message, instant message, email, an application on a mobiledevice, browser-based reminder, etc.

Exemplary User Interface

FIGS. 6-19 provide examples of the systems and methods described hereinwithin the context of a website or application. Particularly, FIGS. 6-10depict exemplary screenshots of various user interfaces for matching aparticular patient to a particular therapist. FIGS. 11-16 depictexemplary screenshots of various user interfaces for completing anintake assessment for a particular patient, and FIGS. 17-19 depictvarious user interfaces for various other features and functionality ofthe systems and methods disclosed herein. As will be understood from thediscussions herein, any questions or answers shown in the FIGS. areintended to exemplary only.

FIGS. 6-8 depict exemplary screenshots of a user interface including apatient matching questionnaire according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the exemplarypatient matching questionnaire includes instructions for filling out theform, 602. The exemplary matching questionnaire, in particularembodiments, includes a first question 604 (“do you have a genderpreference”) and electronic buttons for the patient to respond to thequestion. In various embodiments, the exemplary matching questionnaireincludes more questions 608 and 612 and buttons 610 and 614 foranswering questions 608 and 612. As will be understand by discussionsherein, the system may be configured to enable the patient to answerquestions in any suitable way, including by a button (e.g., by clickingor otherwise selecting a button), a text box, a radio button, making aselection, tapping a location on a screen, etc.

FIGS. 7 and 8 depict more questions of the patient matchingquestionnaire 600, including questions 616, 620, 624, 628, 632, 636,640, 644, and 648 and respective answer buttons 618, 622, 626, 630, 634,638, 642, 646, and 650. In particular embodiments, patient matchingquestionnaire 600 further includes a button for submitting the patientanswers 652. As will be understood from discussions herein, thesubmission button 652, upon activation, submits the patient's answers tothe questions as indicated in the various answer buttons on theelectronic form.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displayingexemplary match results according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. As will be understood from discussions herein, the exemplarymatch results are displayed to the user/patient upon completion and/orsubmission of the patient matching questionnaire 600 (above). In variousembodiments, upon submission of the patient matching questionnaire, thesystem is configured to calculate match scores of a plurality oftherapists for the particular patient. As shown in the embodiment shownin FIG. 9, the system is configured to display the top three resultsbased on match score.

As shown in FIG. 9, the exemplary match results user interface includesa title of the page 902, information regarding a first matched therapist920, information regarding a second matched therapist 940, andinformation regarding a third matched therapist 960. For simplicity andbrevity, the information regarding the first matched therapist 920 willbe used as an example.

According to particular embodiments, the information regarding the firstmatched therapist 920 includes a profile picture of the first matchedtherapist 922, a name of the first matched therapist 924, and mayinclude other relevant information (not numbered). In variousembodiments, the information regarding the first matched therapist 920includes a match score of the first matched therapist with theparticular patient 926, a button that allows the particular patient toconnect the first matched therapist (e.g., by electronic message, bysecure teleconference, by phone, etc.) 928, a button for accessing thefirst matched therapist's full profile 930, and other options, such asoptions for saving the first matched therapist or removing the firstmatched therapist from a saved group of therapists 932.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displaying aprofile of an exemplary therapist 1000 according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure (e.g., which may be accessed, for example, upon apatient selecting button 930 in FIG. 9). In the embodiment shown in FIG.10, the exemplary profile of the exemplary therapist 1000 includes atherapist name 1002, a therapist profile picture 1004, personal andcontact information for the therapist 1006 (e.g., email address, phonenumber, etc.), a price of the therapist (e.g., how much the therapistcharges per hour, per telehealth session, etc.), and a video 1010 (e.g.,an introductory video featuring the therapist and/or the therapist'spractice).

The various systems and methods herein may be configured to provide aninitial assessment of a particular patient. In particular embodiments,the system provides the initial assessment of the particular patientbased on the particular patient's answers to a series of questions.Exemplary initial assessment questions are shown at FIGS. 11-16.

FIG. 11 depicts a user interface including an exemplary patient intakeassessment form 1100 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the exemplary patientintake assessment form including instructions for filling out the form,1102. The exemplary patient intake form 1100, in the embodiment shown inFIG. 11, further includes a series of questions for a patient, 1104 and1108 and electronic buttons 1106 and 1110 for answering the series ofquestions. As will be understood from discussions herein, the electronicbuttons 1106 and 1110 may be any suitable mechanism discussed herein forrecording the patient's answers to the series of questions.

FIGS. 12-16 depict further exemplary questions of the series ofquestions of the exemplary patient intake form 1100, including questions1112, 1116, 1120, 1124, 1128, 1132, 1136, 1140, 1144, 1146, 1148, 1152,1156, 1160, 1164, 1168, 1172, and 1176 and respective answer buttons1114, 1118, 1122, 1126, 1130, 1134, 1138, 1142, 1145, 1147, 1150, 1154,1158, 1162, 1166, 1170, 1174, and 1178. In particular embodiments, theexemplary patient intake assessment form 1100 further includes a buttonfor submitting the patient answers 1180. As will be understood fromdiscussions herein, the submission button 1180, upon activation, submitsthe patient's answers to the questions as indicated in the variousanswer buttons on the electronic form.

FIG. 17 depicts an exemplary screenshot of a user interface fordisplaying an exemplary patient profile 1700 according to one embodimentof the present disclosure. The exemplary patient profile 1700 includes,in the embodiment shown, a view of the patient profile 1702 and variousnavigation options 1703. The view of the patient profile 1702 includes,in the embodiment shown, a profile picture for the patient and basicinformation about the patient, such as a brief description of thepatient and geolocation indicating where the patient is located. Thevarious navigation options 1703 include a profile editing navigationbutton, a button for accessing the patient's account, a button forviewing saved therapists, and a button for enabling the patient to logout of the system. The exemplary patient profile 1700 further includesvarious navigation buttons 1705, which may include a home button, amessage button (e.g., for sending and receiving secure/encrypted andHIPAA compliant messages, including video messaging), an appointmentsbutton, and an account button. As will be understood from discussionsherein, the various navigation options 1703 and 1705 may include anyother suitable navigation options.

The exemplary patient profile 1700 includes, in the embodiment shown, anindication of the type of profile and/or other basic information 1710(e.g., “public profile” vs. “private profile”, where a public profilemay be generally findable by other users of the system and a privateprofile may not be findable). In various embodiments, the system may beconfigured to enable the patient to edit their profile, includingediting their profile picture at 1714 and 1716, previewing and savingprofile changes at 1712, and adding basic biographical information at1718. As will be understood from discussions herein, therapists (orother medical providers) may have substantially similar profiles andoptions as shown for an exemplary patient.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screenshot of a user interface for displayingand managing preferred medical providers 1800 according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in the embodiment of FIG.18, the user interface for displaying and managing preferred medicalproviders 1800 includes the patient's profile 1702 and navigationoptions 1703 and 1705, as discussed in relation to FIG. 17. In variousembodiments, the user interface for displaying and managing preferredmedical providers 1800 includes preferred or saved therapists for thepatient. In these embodiments, as shown in FIG. 18, the user interfacefor displaying and managing preferred medical providers 1800 includes aphotograph or avatar for each preferred or saved therapist 1802 and anindication of whether each preferred/saved therapist is currentlyonline. As will be understood from discussion herein, if a particularpreferred/saved therapist is listed as “online” (or the like), thesystem may be configured to enable the patient to immediately interactwith the online therapist via messaging or videoconferencing.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary appointment calendar1900 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown inthe embodiment of FIG. 19, the exemplary appointment calendar 1900includes the patient's profile 1702 and navigation options 1703 and1705, as discussed in relation to FIG. 17. In various embodiments, theexemplary appointment calendar 1900 includes various appointments for apatient (or therapist). In particular embodiments, each appointmentincludes a status of the appointment 1902 (e.g., completed, upcoming,open, etc.), a patient/therapist name 1904 (e.g., name of the patient ortherapist associated with the appointment), a start time 1906, an endtime 1908, and options 1910 (e.g., options for alerts, for reminders,etc.).

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screenshot of exemplary geolocation servicesaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.20, systems and methods herein may utilize a mobile device's geolocationservices to track a location of a patient for any of the purposesdiscussed herein.

Additional Features Patient Tracking

In various embodiments, the systems and methods herein may includepatient tracking. In a particular embodiment, the system is configured(via an App) to access a patient's mobile device geolocationcapabilities (e.g., via one or more suitable APIs) to determine alocation of the patient at any suitable time. The system may, forexample, determine whether the patient has completed tasks in thepatient's continuous care plan. Continuing with this example, atherapist may receive one or more alerts (via the system) when a patientdoes not complete a particular task in the patient's continuous careplan.

A particular example may be useful. In this particular example, aparticular patient has downloaded a continuous care application (of thesystems and methods herein) to their mobile computing device. Continuingwith this particular example, the particular patient and/or theparticular patient's therapist has uploaded or input tasks of acontinuous care plan to the system (as discussed above). In thisparticular example, the particular patient's continuous care planincludes going to the gym on Wednesday, going to a yoga class onThursday, and going to church on Friday.

Continuing with this particular example, the particular patient does notattend the gym on Wednesday. The system, in this particular example, byaccessing/receiving geolocations from the particular patient's mobiledevice, determines that the particular patient was not as the gym onWednesday (e.g., the system has a stored location or approximatelocation of the gym and can compare this location to locations visitedby the particular patient on Wednesday to determine whether theparticular patient went to the gym). Using a substantially similarprocess, the system, in this particular example, determines theparticular patient did not go to yoga on Thursday or church on Friday.The system, in some embodiments, may produce one or more alerts to betransmitted to the therapist upon determining that the particularpatient is not adhering to the continuous care plan.

The system, continuing with this particular example, may be configuredto batch the geolocations of the particular patient and/or alertsregarding the particular patient's failure to adhere to the continuouscare plan and may transmit the geolocations and/or alerts to thetherapist (and/or emergency contacts of the particular patient) in anysuitable frequency, such as daily, weekly, during a particular timeperiod (e.g., the first two weeks of therapy, the first month oftherapy, etc.). In further embodiments, the system may be configured tosend an alert to the therapist and/or the particular patient's emergencycontacts (via phone, text, email, social network message, etc.) upondetermining via geolocation that the particular patient has not lefttheir house for a particular number of days (potentially indicating anemergency).

Social Media Interaction

In various embodiments, the system may transmit data to and receive datafrom a patient's social networks. In these embodiments (and others), thesystem is configured to communication with the patient's social networks(e.g., Facebook, twitter, LinkedIN, Yik Yak, etc.) via a suitable API,by the patient providing their login credentials to the social medianetworks.

The system may be configured to receive the patient's activity on thesocial media networks and produce alerts to emergency contacts and/orthe patient's therapist based on the patient's interaction with thesocial network. As a particular example, the system may be configured toalert the patient's therapist if the patient posts various key words orphrases on the social network potentially indicating that the patient ishaving a crisis, breakdown, or other event relevant to the patient'scare (e.g., “having a dark day”, “life sucks”, etc.). Further, thesystem may be configured to determine whether the patient has reached aparticular life event based on information received from the socialnetwork(s), such as, but not limited to, the patient's birthday, if thepatient is involved with a separation from a signification other, if thepatient enters a relationship, etc.

Emergency Alerts

As discussed herein, the system may be configured to notify a patient'stherapist and/or emergency contacts in the case of an emergency. Inparticular embodiments, the systems and methods herein may include aone-touch emergency notification feature. In these embodiments, thesystem may be configured to alert the patient's family members,therapist, and/or an emergency help line (e.g., a national suicideprevention hotline), upon the push of a single button. The system may beconfigured to call, text, instant message, and/or email the patient'semergency contacts simultaneously upon activation of the one-touchemergency notification feature.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments has beenpresented only for the purposes of illustration and description and isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present systems andmethods to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications andvariations are possible in light of the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain theprinciples of the present systems and methods and their practicalapplication so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize thepresent systems and methods and various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the artto which the present systems and methods pertain without departing fromtheir spirit and scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic therapy platform for providingimproved patient and therapist matching, the electronic therapy platformcomprising: a) one or more servers each comprising a database and atleast one processor and operatively connected to: i) a particularpatient's computing device; and ii) at least one therapist's computingdevice; b) a matching engine for calculating a match score of theparticular patient and the at least one therapist by: i) receivingpatient data items associated with patient answers to a series ofpatient questions presented to the particular patient at the particularpatient's computing device; ii) receiving therapist data itemsassociated with therapist answers to a series of therapist questions;iii) assigning a weight to each of the patient answers and the therapistanswers; iv) determining the match score based on the weight of each ofthe patient answers and the therapist answers; c) an assessment enginefor providing an initial assessment of the particular patient by: i)receiving assessment data items associated with patient answers to aseries of assessment questions presented to the particular patient atthe particular patient's computing device; ii) assigning a level ofseverity to each of the assessment data items; and iii) transmitting theinitial assessment information to the at least one therapist's computingdevice; and d) a continuous care engine configured for: i) receivingschedule data items associated with the particular patient's therapyschedule; ii) associating the schedule data items with particular datesand times; iii) calculating reminder times for each of the schedule dataitems; and iv) transmitting at least one reminder to the particularpatient based on the calculated reminder time.
 2. The electronic therapyplatform of claim 1, wherein the electronic therapy platform furthercomprises a video conferencing application for providing videoconferencing between the particular patient and the at least onetherapist.
 3. The electronic therapy platform of claim 2, wherein thevideo conferencing application is HIPAA compliant.
 4. The electronictherapy platform of claim 3, wherein the match score is at leastpartially based on matching categories, the matching categories based ontypes of therapy styles.
 5. The electronic therapy platform of claim 4,wherein the matching categories include empiricism, rationalism,humanism, and collectivism categories.
 6. The electronic therapyplatform of claim 5, wherein the matching engine is configured tocalculate the match score as a percent between about 1-100.
 7. Theelectronic therapy platform of claim 1, wherein the continuous careengine is configured for transmitting the at least one reminder to theparticular patient via email.
 8. The electronic therapy platform ofclaim 1, wherein the continuous care engine is configured fortransmitting the at least one reminder to the particular patient via anSMS text message.
 9. The electronic therapy platform of claim 1, whereinthe continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at leastone reminder to the particular patient via a message facilitated by asocial network.
 10. The electronic therapy platform of claim 1, whereinthe continuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at leastone reminder to the particular patient via a message facilitated by acalendar application reminder.
 11. The electronic therapy platform ofclaim 1, wherein the continuous care engine is configured fortransmitting the at least one reminder to a contact of the particularpatient.
 12. The electronic therapy platform of claim 1, wherein thecontinuous care engine is configured for transmitting the at least onereminder simultaneous to more than one contact of the particularpatient.
 13. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising thesteps of: transmitting an electronic therapist form to a plurality ofbrowsers, each of the plurality of browsers associated with a particulartherapist, the electronic therapist form comprising a plurality oftherapist queries; receiving a modified electronic therapist form fromeach the plurality of browsers, each of the modified electronictherapist forms comprising answers to each of the plurality of therapistqueries; assigning a weight to each answer to each of the plurality oftherapist queries; determining, based at least in part on the assignedweight to each answer, a particular category of a number of categoriesto categorize each therapist; storing each of the modified electronictherapists forms and data regarding the category in which each therapistis categorized in memory; transmitting an electronic patient form to abrowser associated with a particular patient, the electronic formcomprising a plurality of patient queries; receiving a modifiedelectronic form from the browser associated with the particular patient,the modified electronic patient form comprising an answer to each of theplurality of patient queries; assigning a weight to each answer to eachof the plurality of patient queries; determining, based at least in parton the assigned weight to each answer, which of the number of categoriesof patients to categorize the particular patient; storing each of themodified electronic patient forms and information regarding whichcategory of patient in which the particular patient is categorized inmemory; extracting the answer to the first patient query of theplurality of patient queries; searching the electronic therapist formsfor an answer corresponding to the answer to the first patient query andcreating a preliminary set of electronic therapist forms, wherein eachof the electronic therapist forms in the preliminary set comprise thecorresponding answer; matching the particular patient to particulartherapists corresponding to three of the preliminary set of electronictherapist forms based at least in part on the category of therapist thateach of the particular therapists is categorized and the category thatthe particular patient is categorized; and displaying a profilecorresponding to each of the three particular therapists on the browserassociated with the particular patient.
 14. The computer-implementedmethod claim 13, wherein the number of categories correspond to majorsystems of psychotherapy.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim14, wherein the number of categories correspond to empiricism,rationalism, humanism, and collectivism categories.
 16. Thecomputer-implemented method claim 15, wherein the particular patient maybe categorized in more than one of the number of categories.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 13, the method further comprisingthe step of: receiving a selection of one of the three particulartherapists from the browser associated with the particular patient;based at least in part on receiving the selection, transmitting, to thebrowser associated with the particular patient, an initial assessmentform, the initial assessment form comprising one or more assessmentquestions; receiving an assessment answer for each of the one or moreassessment questions from the browser associated with the particularpatient; assigning a weight to each assessment answer; determining alevel of severity for each assessment answer based on the assignedweight; and transmitting data associated with level of severity for eachassessment answer to a browser associated with the selected one of thethree particular therapists.
 18. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 17, wherein the method further comprises enabling the particularpatient to conduct a remote therapy session with the selected one of thethree particular therapists.
 19. A computer-implemented method forproviding remote therapy to a patient, the computer-implemented methodcomprising: a) receiving patient data items comprising informationregarding a patient's therapy style; b) receiving therapist data itemscomprising information regarding a plurality of therapists' therapystyles; c) based upon receiving the patient data items and the therapistdata items, calculating a match score for each of the plurality oftherapists and the patient; d) providing the match score for each ofthree therapists of the plurality of therapists to the patient, whereinthe three therapists include therapists with a top three-highest matchscores; e) receiving an indication of a selection of one of the threetherapists from the patient; f) receiving a treatment plan for thepatient from a computing device associated with the selected therapist,wherein the treatment plan comprises one or more events and dates andtimes that the one or more events take place; g) calculating a remindertime for transmitting a reminder to the patient regarding the one ormore events; and h) transmitting a reminder to the patient regarding theone or more events at the reminder time.